Life of Prayer
We believe it is our calling to pray as a habit and pattern of life, not only when we feel like praying or in times of emergency. It is only by the grace of God that we can do the will of God. Grace comes to us through prayer. Thus, the Christian life begins with a commitment to prayer.
We talk about living by a “rule of life.” A rule of life is pattern of prayer that is like the way a musician habitually practices his craft or an athlete regularly trains. If we do not pray according to some pattern, we will discover over time that we do not pray very well or very often. The Anglican rule of life is built upon a three types of categories of prayer: The Eucharist or Holy Communion, the “daily offices” and the regular practice of personal prayer.
The Eucharist.
The church gathers around the altar of God on the Lord’s Day. This is the first day of the week, the beginning of time and the beginning of the new creation. Each Christian is called to participate or “assist” with the liturgy of the church each week.
The Daily Offices.
The early church developed the practice of observing regular hours of prayer, based on the Jewish tradition of praying morning, noon and night. This tradition is perpetuated in the Book of Common Prayer in the services for daily morning and evening prayer. These “daily offices” incorporate confession, praise, intercession and thanksgiving so that we develop balance in the life of prayer. The offices also include the daily praying of the Psalms and the cyclical reading of Scripture.
Personal Prayer.
This is the regular habit of talking to God in our own words and listening for his voice. Personal prayer includes meditation, which involves focusing for an extended time on a particular passage of Scripture or attribute of God, and contemplation, which involves the practice of silence in God’s presence.
Different personality types may be drawn to one of these categories of prayer to the exclusion of the others. However, a balanced rule of life will include a commitment to praying regularly in each of these ways. A healthy diet does not mean eating only things we feel like eating and a healthy prayer life means learning to pray in ways that we may not naturally feel like praying.
People tend to be drawn to new and exciting things. However, we can observe in nature and in our own lives that things grow in a healthy way as a result of consistent feeding and nurture over time. In the same way, we grow spiritually as we commit ourselves to healthy habits of spiritual nourishment over time. The memorable thing we ate last week does not contribute much to our health in the long run. The spiritually exciting thing may provide a needed momentary lift, but does not contribute that much to long term growth. The tendency to flit from one spiritual fad to another without becoming deeply rooted in a particular rule or pattern leads to perpetual spiritual immaturity.
We discuss the life of prayer, rule of life and each of these types of prayer more fully in our Inquirers Class. We invite you to join us!